Brands Hatch beckons for Milwaukee Yamaha’s Brookes and Parkes

The Milwaukee Yamaha team are feeling confident ahead of the second round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch in Kent this weekend (17/18/19 April) as both Josh Brookes and Broc Parkes aim to build on their opening round performances.

Brookes had an impressive start to the season with a third place in the opening race at Donington Park, scoring the new YZF-R1 its first podium finish in the championship in its debut race. Brookes was pushing for a repeat performance in race two, but he was forced to take evasive action after Ryuichi Kiyonari crashed in front of him, leaving him fighting back through the pack to claim sixth place. The Australian contender is now ready to push for more at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Parkes had been building momentum during the weekend, but had a tough pair of races with a 16th place and then crashing out of race two whilst moving up the pack. The former World Supersport title runner-up has scored podium finishes at the Kent circuit on a wildcard appearance in the past, and is confident of stronger results on the 1.2-mile Indy circuit.

Josh Brookes

“I think we should be pretty good at Brands Hatch because we have ridden Alcarras in Spain when the bike was new, and then we went to Cartagena, then we went to Donington Park for the test and then the race. Throughout that period we have made a lot of changes to the bike, but it has reacted consistently over the different tracks we have gone to so I think we should be able to go to Brands Hatch and not have to turn everything upside down with the setting.

“It will still be tough at Brands Hatch, all of the teams will get stronger and we will have a lot of competition on the track, so we have to improve at a faster rate than them and hopefully because we are on a new bike I think it will improve. Putting it all into the big picture we feel confident for Brands Hatch but we still have to take it day by day.”

Broc Parkes

“After Donington Park I really want to make up for it at Brands Hatch this weekend. Normally it is a good track for me, although I have never raced on the Indy layout. I have had good results in the past in the World Championship and when I was a wildcard before so I am hoping we can go there and use what we have learnt from the first round and hopefully be stronger again. It has all been positive so far, it is just that it didn’t quite work out at Donington.”